CN113279226B

CN113279226B - Control method of clothes treatment device

Info

Publication number: CN113279226B
Application number: CN202110192121.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 崔云济; 李娜卿
Original assignee: LG Electronics Inc
Current assignee: LG Electronics Inc
Priority date: 2020-02-20
Filing date: 2021-02-19
Publication date: 2023-09-08
Anticipated expiration: 2041-02-19
Also published as: US11761142B2; CN113279226A; EP3868948A1; KR20210106196A; US20210262154A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a control method of a laundry treating apparatus, the laundry treating apparatus comprising: a drum into which the drying object is put; a drum motor driving the drum; an air flow path for guiding air to the drum; the heat pump is arranged on the air flow path and used for dehumidifying and heating the air; an air supply fan for moving air in the air flow path; and an air supply motor driving the air supply fan, the control method comprising: a drum driving step of repeatedly driving the drum by accelerating and decelerating the drum; a steam supply step, after starting the drum driving step, stopping after supplying steam for a set period of time; and an air supply step of circulating air in the drum driving step; in the steam supply step, circulation of air in the drum is stopped.

Description

Control method of clothes treatment device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a control method of a laundry treatment apparatus, and more particularly, to a control method of a laundry treatment apparatus including a control method for drying bedding in a laundry treatment apparatus provided with a steam generating part.

Background

In general, a laundry treatment apparatus is an apparatus that performs a function of washing laundry or drying an object to be dried after drying and washing, or can perform both of the above functions.

For example, a drum type dryer that dries laundry after washing, a box type dryer that hangs laundry to dry, a laundry care machine that care for laundry by supplying air to laundry, and the like have been developed.

In the laundry treatment apparatus, a laundry care machine, a dryer, or the like is provided with a heat source supply unit to heat air and supply hot air to laundry.

According to a heat source, such a heat source supply unit includes a gas heater that heats air by burning gas, an electric heater that heats air by electric resistance, a heat pump that heats air by using a heat pump that circulates a refrigerant by using a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, and an evaporator, and the like, and in recent years, a heat pump having an advantage of high energy efficiency has been actively developed.

On the other hand, a drum, a driving motor, a compressor, an evaporator, a condenser, and the like are provided inside a cabinet of a laundry dryer using a heat pump. The drum provides a receiving space of a circular shape to receive and dry laundry, and the space occupied by the drum is much larger than the space occupied by other constituent elements in the entire space inside the cabinet.

The compressor, condenser, expansion valve, and evaporator constituting the heat pump cycle are disposed in the remaining space except for the space occupied by the drum, and the remaining space except for the space occupied by the drum may be the space of the left and right sides of the cabinet.

For example, the evaporator and the condenser may be disposed in a front-rear direction in a side space of the case, and the compressor having a relatively large volume and size may be disposed in another side corner space of the case.

In the laundry treatment apparatus using the heat pump of the related art as described above, as the heat pump is operated, moisture of the humid air passing through the evaporator is condensed on the surface of the evaporator, and the condensed water condensed on the surface of the evaporator is concentrated by the own weight of the condensed water and is separately discharged.

In addition, in recent years, the following laundry treatment apparatuses have been developed and used: in a clothes treating apparatus using a heat pump, an additional steam generating device is provided, and a drying object is dried by using hot air generated by the heat pump and steam generated by a steam generating part, and meanwhile, the clothes treating apparatus has nursing functions of removing wrinkles, peculiar smell, static electricity and the like of the drying object.

On the other hand, in the control method of the related art laundry treating apparatus as described above, when drying the drying object including the articles on the bed such as the bedclothes, there is no separate process for steam supply.

Therefore, in drying articles such as bedding, it is necessary to perform a control process of drying by supplying steam, so that not only the articles on the bed can be dried, but also the effects of removing wrinkles, removing bad smell, removing static electricity, removing dust, sterilizing, and the like can be obtained.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a control method of a laundry treatment apparatus that supplies steam when a bedding such as a bedding is dried, and can perform not only drying of the bedding but also wrinkle removal, odor removal, static electricity removal, dust removal, and sterilization by the supplied steam.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a control method of a laundry treatment apparatus, which is capable of improving a sterilizing effect of bedding articles by maintaining an internal temperature of the bedding articles for a predetermined period of time by supplying steam when the bedding articles such as bedclothes are dried.

On the other hand, the object of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned object, and other objects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

In a control method of a laundry treating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, the laundry treating apparatus includes: a drum into which the drying object is put; a drum motor driving the drum; an air flow path for guiding air to the drum; a heat pump provided in the air flow path for dehumidifying and heating the air; a blower fan for moving air in the air flow path; and a blower motor for driving the blower fan, preferably, the control method includes: a drum driving step of repeatedly driving the drum by accelerating and decelerating the drum; a steam supply step of stopping the supply of steam during a set time period in performing the drum driving step; and an air supply step of circulating air in the drum driving step; in performing the steam supply step, circulation of air in the drum is stopped.

Here, it is preferable that the drum driving step is preceded by a process selecting step of selecting a drying process, and the steam supplying step is performed when the drying process of the articles on the bed is selected.

On the other hand, preferably, the air supply step is performed after the set time has elapsed.

In the air supply step, it is preferable that the operation of the heat pump and the blower motor is suspended during the set time.

On the other hand, in the steam supply step, it is preferable that the operation of the heat pump and the blower motor is stopped and is operated after the steam supply step is completed.

Here, preferably, the heat pump is stopped before the steam supply step, and the blower motor is stopped after the steam supply step is started.

In the control method of the laundry treatment apparatus, the steam supply step is performed such that the blower motor is temporarily operated and then stopped, and the blower motor is operated after the steam supply step is completed.

Here, preferably, the blower motor is restarted after the steam supply step is completed, and the heat pump is operated after the blower motor is operated.

On the other hand, preferably, the drum driving step includes: a first mode of rotating the drum at a rotation speed at which the drying object flows at a lower portion of a horizontal line passing through a rotation center of the drum; a third mode in which the drum is rotated at a rotation speed at which the drying object is kept in close contact with the circumferential surface of the drum; and a second mode in which the drum is rotated at a rotational speed greater than the rotational speed set in the first mode and less than the rotational speed set in the third mode.

Here, it is preferable that the drum driving step sequentially performs the first mode, the second mode, the third mode, the second mode, and the first mode.

In the second mode, the drum is preferably rotated at a rotation speed at which the drying object located in a lower region of a horizontal line passing through a rotation center of the drum falls from an upper region of the horizontal line to the lower region.

In another aspect, in a control method of a laundry treating apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, the laundry treating apparatus includes: a drum into which the drying object is put; a drum motor driving the drum; an air flow path for guiding air to the drum; a heat pump provided in the air flow path for dehumidifying and heating the air; a blower fan for moving air in the air flow path; and a blower motor for driving the blower fan, the control method of the laundry treatment apparatus preferably comprises: a process selection step of selecting a drying process of the articles on the bed; a drum driving step of repeatedly performing forward/reverse driving by accelerating and decelerating the drum in the process of performing the bedding drying; a steam supply step of supplying steam during a set time in performing the drum driving step; and an air supply step of circulating air in the drum after the steam supply step.

Here, in the steam supply step, it is preferable that the operation of the heat pump and the blower motor is suspended during the set time.

In the steam supply step, the blower motor is preferably stopped after the temporary operation, and is preferably operated after the steam supply step is completed.

According to the control method of the clothes treating apparatus of the present invention, steam is supplied when drying bedding such as bedding, thereby having effects of not only drying the bedding by the supplied steam, but also removing wrinkles, removing peculiar smell, removing static electricity, removing dust and sterilizing.

Further, according to the control method of the laundry treatment apparatus of the present invention, when drying a bedding such as bedding, the internal temperature of the bedding can be maintained at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined period by supplying steam, thereby having an effect of improving the sterilizing effect of the bedding.

On the other hand, the effects of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned effects, and other effects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description of the claims.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic view showing a laundry treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a laundry treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a laundry treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a control process of the laundry treating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a graph showing an operation process of the laundry treating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a graph showing an operation process of a laundry treating apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a graph showing an operation process of a laundry treating apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, a control method of a laundry treating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In describing the present invention, names of the respective constituent elements defined are defined in consideration of functions in the present invention. Therefore, the technical elements of the present invention should not be construed as being limited. In addition, the names defined for the respective constituent elements may be referred to in the art as other names

First, a laundry treating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be briefly described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view showing a laundry treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, fig. 2 is a schematic view showing a configuration of the laundry treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of the laundry treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 1 to 3, the laundry treating apparatus 100 of the present invention illustrates a drum type dryer, which may be configured to include a cabinet 110, a drum 130, a drum driving part 140, an air supply part 170, a heat pump 160, and a steam generating part 180, and air of the drum 130 is connected to the heat pump 160 through an air flow path 150.

Here, the cabinet 110 may form an external appearance of a product, and a door 112 and a base 114 may be further provided, the door 112 being provided in front of the cabinet 110 and being used for inputting laundry, and an internal structure of the laundry treating apparatus 100 being provided at the base 114.

On the other hand, an operation unit 115 and a display unit 116 for controlling the laundry treating apparatus 100 are provided on one side of the front upper portion of the cabinet 110, and a condensate tank 120 for temporarily storing condensate generated in the heat pump 160 may be provided on the other side of the front upper portion of the cabinet 110.

Here, the display unit 116 displays various drying processes according to the type of the drying object, and the operation unit 115 is provided so that the drying process displayed on the display unit 116 can be selected. In this regard, the control section 200 displays the drying course selected by the operation section 115 on the display section 116, and can perform the drying course by controlling the respective configurations of the laundry processing apparatus 100.

On the other hand, in the above-described drying process, a bedding article drying process for drying a bedding article may be provided, and the bedding article drying process may include a bedding article general drying process without using steam and a bedding article steam drying process with using steam.

Here, in the case of a general drying process of the articles on the bed, the removal of wrinkles, the removal of odor, the removal of static electricity, etc. can be performed on the articles on the bed without the supply of steam, whereas in the case of a steam process of the articles on the bed, by the supply of steam, not only the removal of wrinkles, the removal of odor, the removal of static electricity, the removal of dust, but also the sterilization effect can be expected.

On the other hand, the condensate tank 120 may be provided in a drawer form so as to be drawn out toward the front of the case 110, and an additional handle 122 may be formed at the front of the condensate tank 120. Thus, the user can draw out the condensate water tank 120 and discharge the condensate water according to the case where the condensate water is stored in the condensate water tank 120.

The condensate tank 120 may be provided with a supply pipe 124 for guiding the condensate stored in the condensate tank 120 to a steam generator 180 described later.

On the other hand, the drum 130 may rotate around a rotation axis disposed in the horizontal direction or in a direction inclined at a predetermined angle inside the case. On the other hand, the drum 130 has a cylindrical shape with an empty inside, and forms a receiving space for putting in laundry or bedding as a drying object and drying.

The drum 130 is formed in a cylindrical shape with open front and rear. A front support 132 rotatably supporting the drum 130 is provided in front of the drum 130. A rear support 133 rotatably supporting the drum 130 is provided at the rear of the drum 130.

Further, a front roller 142 and a rear roller 143 rotatably supporting the drum 130 may be additionally provided at a front lower portion and a rear lower portion of the drum 130.

That is, the front support 132 and the rear support 133 form a drying space for the drying object by blocking the front and rear surfaces of the drum 130, and also function to support the front and rear ends of the drum 130.

On the other hand, an inlet 132b for inputting the drying object into the drum 130 is formed in the front support 132, and the inlet is selectively opened and closed by the door 112.

The air outlet 132a to which the air flow path 150 described later is connected is located at the lower portion of the front support 132. The air outlet 132a is provided to communicate with an intake passage 151 of an air passage 150 described later.

The rear support portion 133 is formed with an air inlet 133a having a plurality of through holes for supplying air to the drum 130. The air introduction port 133a is provided to communicate with an exhaust passage 152 of the air passage 150 described later.

Here, in order to effectively dry laundry, which is a drying object, a lifter 131a for Tumbling (Tumbling) the laundry, which is put in, may be further provided on the inner circumferential surface of the drum 130.

The drum driving unit 140 supplies a rotational force to the drum 130 by the drum motor 141, and the drum 130 can be rotated by transmitting the rotational force of the drum motor 141 to the drum 130 by connecting an output shaft of the drum motor 141 and the drum 130 through a power transmission means such as a belt 141a and a pulley 141 b.

Also, the air flow path 150 may be connected with the drum 130 and form a closed loop for circulation of air. For example, the air flow path 150 may be formed in a duct shape.

Here, a suction flow path 151 for discharging air is formed at a lower portion of the front support 132 of the drum 130, and an exhaust flow path 152 for supplying air is formed at the rear support 133 of the drum 130.

On the other hand, the blower 170 may be provided in the air flow path 150 extending from the suction flow path 151 to the evaporator 161 of the heat pump 160 or in the air flow path 150 extending from the condenser 162 of the heat pump 160 to the exhaust flow path 152.

Here, the blower 170 is provided with a blower fan 174 driven by an additional blower motor 172, which passes air through the inside of the drum 130 by applying a moving force to the air, and circulates the air discharged from the drum 130 to the drum 130 again.

On the other hand, the laundry treating apparatus 100 of the present invention may be provided with a drum motor 141 for rotating the drum 130 and an additional blower motor 172 for driving the blower fan 174.

Here, the laundry treating apparatus 100 of the present invention may individually adjust the rotation of the drum 130 and the operation of the blower fan 174 according to the individual control of the drum motor 141 and the blower motor 172.

Further, the suction flow path 151 is provided with a fluff filter 153 for filtering fluff in the circulating air. As the air sucked from the drum 130 to the suction flow path passes through the lint filter 153, the lint filter 153 may trap lint contained in the air.

Accordingly, the moisture of the laundry is evaporated by the hot air supplied into the drum 130, and the air passing through the drum 130 is discharged from the drum 130 in a state containing the moisture evaporated from the laundry.

Here, the high-temperature and high-humidity air discharged from the drum 130 may be dehumidified and heated at the heat pump 160 and circulated to the drum 130 while moving along the air flow path 150.

On the other hand, the heat pump 160 includes an evaporator 161, a compressor 163, a condenser 162, and an expansion valve 164. The heat pump 160 may use a refrigerant as a working fluid. The refrigerant moves along the refrigerant pipe 165, and the refrigerant pipe 165 forms a closed loop for circulation of the refrigerant.

That is, the evaporator 161, the compressor 163, the condenser 162, and the expansion valve 164 may be connected by a refrigerant pipe 165, and the refrigerant sequentially passes through the evaporator 161, the compressor 163, the condenser 162, and the expansion valve 164 (see fig. 1).

Here, the evaporator 161 is provided in the air flow path 150 to communicate with the drum outlet, and exchanges heat between the air discharged from the drum outlet and the refrigerant, and recovers heat of the air discharged from the drum 130 without being discharged to the outside of the dryer.

The condenser 162 is provided in the air flow path 150 so as to communicate with the drum inlet, and exchanges heat between the air passing through the evaporator 161 and the refrigerant, thereby radiating heat of the refrigerant absorbed by the evaporator 161 to the air to be introduced into the drum 130.

On the other hand, the evaporator 161 and the condenser 162 may be provided inside the air flow path 150. The evaporator 161 may be connected to a drum outlet, and the condenser 162 may be connected to a drum inlet.

Since the temperature of the high-temperature and high-humidity air discharged from the drum 130 is higher than the temperature of the refrigerant of the evaporator 161, heat of the air is transferred to the refrigerant of the evaporator 161 when the air passes through the evaporator 161, thereby being condensed and generating condensed water. Accordingly, moisture of the high temperature and humid air may be removed by the evaporator 161, and condensed water condensed is collected into the additional condensed water tank 120.

On the other hand, a condensate collecting plate 166 may be formed at a lower portion of the evaporator 161 to collect condensate generated at the evaporator 161 to the condensate tank 120, and the condensate collecting plate 166 and the condensate tank 120 may be further provided with a condensate pipe 167 and a condensate pump (not shown) for guiding the condensate collected at the condensate collecting plate 166 to the condensate tank 120.

On the other hand, the heat of the air absorbed by the evaporator 161 moves toward the condenser 162 with the refrigerant as a medium, and the compressor 163 is located between the evaporator 161 and the condenser 162 so that the heat moves from the evaporator 161 (low heat source portion) to the condenser 162 (high heat source portion).

On the other hand, the evaporator 161 and the condenser 162 may be fin-and-tube type (fin & tube type) heat exchangers. The fin tube is formed by attaching a plurality of fins in a flat plate shape to a tube having an empty inside.

Thus, the refrigerant flows along the inside of the tube, and the refrigerant and the air can exchange heat with each other as the air passes between the plurality of fins attached to the tube. Here, the fin is used to increase the heat exchange area between air and refrigerant.

The compressor 163 compresses the refrigerant evaporated in the evaporator 161 to produce a high-temperature/high-pressure refrigerant, and moves the high-temperature/high-pressure refrigerant along the refrigerant pipe 165 to the condenser 162. The compressor 163 may be a variable frequency compressor 163 capable of changing the frequency in order to control the discharge amount of the refrigerant.

The expansion valve 164 is provided in a refrigerant pipe 165 extending from the condenser 162 to the evaporator 161, and expands the refrigerant condensed in the condenser 162 to produce a low-temperature/low-pressure refrigerant, which is transmitted to the evaporator 161.

According to the path of movement of the refrigerant configured as described above, the refrigerant flows into the compressor 163 in a gaseous state, and is compressed by the compressor 163 to become high temperature/high pressure, and the high temperature/high pressure refrigerant flows into the condenser 162 and changes from a gaseous state to a liquid state as heat is released to the air in the condenser 162.

Then, the liquid-state refrigerant flows into the expansion valve 164, and becomes low temperature/low pressure due to the throttling action of the expansion valve 164 (or including a capillary tube or the like), the low temperature/low pressure liquid-state refrigerant flows into the evaporator 161, and the refrigerant is evaporated from the liquid state to the gas state as absorbing heat from the air at the evaporator 161.

In this way, the heat pump 160 repeatedly circulates the refrigerant through the compressor 163, the condenser 162, the expansion valve 164, and the evaporator 161, and supplies heat to the air circulated to the drum 130.

On the other hand, the laundry treatment apparatus 100 of the present invention may further be provided with a steam generation part 180, wherein the steam generation part 180 supplies high-temperature steam to the inside of the drum 130 independently of the circulation supply of the heating air by the heat pump 160, and performs wrinkle removal, odor removal, static electricity removal, and sterilization of the drying object.

Here, the steam generating part 180 may be provided with: a steam chamber 181 for storing water for generating steam while forming a space for heating; a steam heater (not shown) provided inside the steam chamber 181, for heating water stored in the steam chamber 181 to generate steam; and a steam nozzle 185 spraying the steam generated in the steam chamber 181 to the inner space of the drum 130.

Here, a steam water supply pipe 182 to receive water for generating steam may be provided at the steam chamber 181. The steam water supply pipe 182 may directly receive water from a water source (not shown) outside the laundry treating apparatus 100 or receive condensed water stored in the condensed water tank 120. Such a steam water supply pipe 182 may be further provided with a water supply valve 183 for controlling water supplied to the steam chamber 181.

According to this, the operation of the laundry treating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention as described above is described in detail by way of examples. Each element mentioned below should be understood with reference to the above description and the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing a control process of a laundry treating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 5 is a graph showing an operation process of the laundry treating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

On the other hand, the control method of the laundry treatment apparatus of the present invention is for drying or treating laundry or a drying object such as a bed product, but in the embodiment of the present invention, a process of removing wrinkles, removing odor, removing static electricity, removing dust, and sterilizing a bed product by supplying steam when drying a bed product will be described.

First, the present invention generally includes: a process selection step (S110) of receiving a control signal regarding process selection from a user; a drying time setting step (S120) for setting the execution time of the process selected by the user; a drum driving step (S130) of rotating the drum 130 by accelerating or decelerating the drum 130 at a set speed; a steam supply step (S140) of supplying steam to the drum 130; and an air supply step (S150) of supplying air to the drum 130 to remove moisture from the drying object.

Here, the process selection step (S110) is a step in which the user selects a desired process among the plurality of drying processes displayed by the display unit 116 through the operation unit 115, and the control unit 200 may set the drying process according to the information input through the operation unit 115. In the present embodiment, a description will be given taking, as an example, that the process selected by the operation section 115 is a bedding-like drying process.

On the other hand, the drying time setting step (S120) is a step of setting a time required for the drying process selected by the user, and may be set by the control section 200 for each drying process according to the amount of the drying object put into the drum 130, or may be set by the control section 200 for selecting a time set for the drying process selected by the user from the drying times for each drying process set by the manufacturer.

The drum driving step (S130) is the following process: by adjusting the rotation speed of the drum 130, the drying object is moved inside the drum 130 or fixed to the circumferential surface of the drum 130, thereby changing the contact area between the drying object and the air, changing the contact area between the steam supplied to the inside of the drum 130 in the process described later, and allowing the steam to penetrate deeply into the inside of the drying object.

In addition, during the steam supply step (S140) and the air supply step (S150), the drum driving step (S130) may be intermittently repeated at predetermined intervals.

On the other hand, the drum driving step (S130) may include a first mode, a second mode, and a third mode, which are modes for rotating and agitating the drying object inside the drum 130 by sequentially accelerating and decelerating the rotation speed of the drum 130 at the first agitation speed, the second agitation speed, and the third agitation speed.

Here, the first mode, the second mode, and the third mode may be distinguished according to the rotation speed of the drum 130, the drum 130 may rotate at the slowest rpm in the first mode, the drum 130 may rotate at the fastest rpm in the third mode, and the drum 130 may rotate at an rpm between the rpm of the first mode and the rpm of the third mode in the second mode.

On the other hand, the first mode is a mode in which the drum 130 is rotated at a first rotational speed (about 35 to 45 rpm) set in advance to cause the drying object to flow in a lower portion of a horizontal line passing through the rotation center of the drum 130.

Here, in performing the first mode, since the drying object performs a rolling motion along the inner circumferential surface of the drum in a space located at a lower portion of the horizontal line among the inner space of the drum 130, the drying object may repeatedly perform a rolling motion inside the drum 130 by the first mode.

Therefore, in the first mode, one surface of the drying object in a state of being in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the drum 130 (i.e., a surface in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the drum) can be separated from the circumferential surface of the drum 130, and rotated and moved in a state of having a large contact area with the air or steam flowing into the drum 130.

On the other hand, the second mode is a mode in which the drum 130 is rotated at a second rotation speed (about 45 to 55 rpm) that is greater than the first rotation speed set in the first mode and less than the third rotation speed set in the third mode.

Here, when the second mode is performed, the following motions may be repeated: as the drum rotates at the second rotation speed, the drying object moves to an upper region of a horizontal line passing through the rotation center of the drum 130 in the inner space of the drum 130 due to centrifugal force, and then falls from the upper region of the horizontal line passing through the rotation center of the drum 130 to a lower region of the horizontal line.

Therefore, by dropping the drying object from the upper region to the lower region of the drum 130, it is possible to easily separate moisture contained in the drying object from the drying object upon collision with the circumferential surface of the drum 130, and steam independent of air supply can penetrate into the drying object due to the improvement of the mobility of the drying object.

On the other hand, the third mode is a mode in which the drum 130 is rotated at a third rotation speed (about 55 to 65 rpm) at which a centrifugal force of 1G or more is caused to the drying object, thereby keeping the drying object in a state of being closely adhered to the circumferential surface of the drum 130.

Here, in the third mode, since the drying object remains fixed to the circumferential surface of the drum 130 due to the centrifugal force, the drying object does not fall even if the drum 130 rotates. In the third mode, a large centrifugal force can be applied to the drying object, and moisture contained in the drying object can be separated from the drying object.

In the third mode, air or steam that has remained inside the drying object that has been rotated while adhering to the inner peripheral surface of the drum 130 is deeply permeated into the drying object by the centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the drum 130.

On the other hand, the first mode, the second mode, and the third mode described above may be repeatedly continued at predetermined intervals when the drying object is dried, and dust and the like of the drying object remaining in the drum 130 may fall off as the first mode, the second mode, and the third mode are performed, and air or steam in the drum 130 may uniformly contact and infiltrate into the drying object.

In addition, regarding the first, second, and third modes, the modes may be combined in such a manner that the rotation speed of the drum 130 gradually increases, or in such a manner that the rotation speed of the drum 130 gradually decreases, in order to minimize the load of the drum driving part 140.

Such a drum driving step (S130) may be repeated until the end of the drying time. That is, the drum driving step (S130) may be repeatedly performed from the time point when the steam supply step (S140) and the air supply step (S150) are started to the time point when it is determined that the drying time has elapsed.

In addition, the first mode, the second mode, and the third mode described above may be operated independently of the operation of the blower 170 by the drum motor 141 driving the drum 130. That is, when the drum motor 141 rotates the drum 130 at different rotation rpm of the first, second, and third modes, the blower motor 172 may constantly circulate air by rotating the blower fan 174 at a predetermined speed.

On the other hand, the first mode, the second mode, and the third mode described above can be effective in a process for drying bedding and the like (bedding process). Since the bedding and other articles are thick and bulky, the bedding and articles hardly move inside the drum 130 even if the drum 130 is rotated.

Here, if air is supplied to the inside of the drum 130 in a state where the position of the bedding article is not changed, a problem occurs in that a portion of the bedding article in contact with the air is dried and a portion of the bedding article not in contact with the air is not dried, but if the first mode, the second mode, and the third mode are executed in the drum driving step (S130) in the case where the bedding article drying process is selected, the above problem is solved.

On the other hand, after the drum driving step (S130), a steam supplying step (S140) of supplying steam to the inside of the drum 130 is performed. The steam supply step (S140) may be performed to remove wrinkles, remove odor, remove static electricity, and sterilize the drying object put into the drum 130.

Here, the steam supply step (S140) may further include a heat pump stopping step (S141) and a blower stopping step (S143). That is, when the steam is supplied through the steam generating unit 180, if the power is supplied to the steam heater 184 for generating the steam and the power is supplied to the compressor 163 of the heat pump 160, excessive power is used when the drying of the drying object and the steam supply are performed.

In contrast, in the embodiment of the present invention, the operation of the heat pump 160 or the blower 170 may be temporarily stopped when the steam supply step (S140) is performed. However, when the electricity supplied to the laundry treatment apparatus 100 is sufficient, the heat pump 160 and/or the blower 170 may be continuously operated when the steam is supplied.

On the other hand, the operation of the heat pump 160 and the operation of the blower 170 in the steam supply step (S140) will be described with reference to other drawings, and in the following description, the case where the operation of the heat pump 160 and the blower 170 is stopped in the steam supply step (S140) will be described as an example.

On the other hand, as described above, when the steam supply step (S140) is performed, the operation of the compressor 166 of the heat pump 160 is stopped (S141), the operation of the blower 170 is stopped (S143), and the steam is supplied into the drum 130 through the steam generating part (S142).

Here, in the steam supply step (S140), it is not recommended that excessive electricity is used when the steam supply and the heat pump are simultaneously operated, but the supplied steam is circulated together with air when the blower is simultaneously operated, so that the steam is prevented from contacting the drying object. Therefore, in the steam supply step, the operation of the blower is preferably stopped.

On the other hand, the operation of the blower 170 may be overlapped with the supply of steam for a predetermined time at the initial stage of the steam supply step (S140). That is, at the initial stage of the steam supply step (S140), steam may be sprayed only from the position where the steam nozzle 185 is located, and thus may not be uniformly sprayed into the inner space of the drum 130.

Therefore, during a predetermined time period in the initial stage of the steam supply step (S140), it is necessary to uniformly spread the steam injected from the steam nozzle 185 into the drum 130 by activating the blower 170.

Thereafter, when the operation of the compressor 166 of the heat pump 160 and the blower motor 172 of the blower 160 is stopped during the steam supply step (S140), the control unit 200 determines whether or not the set time for supplying the steam has elapsed (S144).

Here, the set time for supplying the steam varies depending on the amount of the first drying object. Here, when the set time has not elapsed, the steam is continuously supplied, and when the set time has elapsed, the supply of the steam is stopped by turning off the power supply to the steam generating unit (S145).

After that, when the steam supply is stopped, the control unit 200 circulates air inside the drum 130 by supplying power to the air supply unit 170 (S151), and heats air circulated inside the drum 130 by supplying power to the heat pump 160, thereby drying the drying object by supplying hot air (S152). Here, the blower 170 may be supplied with power before the heat pump 160 is supplied with power to discharge the steam remaining in the drum 130.

Thereafter, the control unit 200 determines whether or not the drying time set in the drying time setting step (S120) has elapsed (S160). Here, when the drying time has not elapsed, the operation of the blower 170 and the heat pump 160 is maintained, and when the drying time has elapsed, the operation of the blower 170 and the heat pump 160 is stopped, and the drying process is ended.

Hereinafter, an operation process of the laundry treating apparatus 100 according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The operation of the laundry treating apparatus 100 according to another embodiment of the present invention is the same as that of the above-described one embodiment, and the steam supplying step (S140) may be performed after the air supplying step (S150) is performed for a prescribed time.

Therefore, the description about the same process as the above-described one embodiment will be omitted, and only the point of time at which the steam supply step (S140) is performed after the drum driving step (S130) will be described.

As shown in the drawing, in the control method of the laundry treating apparatus 100 according to another embodiment of the present invention, the steam supply step (S140) may be performed after a set time (about 35 to 45 minutes) elapses after the drum driving step (S130) is performed.

Here, the control unit 200 may supply power to the heat pump 160 and the blower 170 and perform a general drying process in performing the drum driving step (S130). Thereafter, the steam supply step (S140) may be performed after the set time elapses.

Here, as in the case of the embodiment, in the steam supply step (S140), the operation of the heat pump 160 and the blower 170 is stopped, and only the steam is supplied by the steam generator 180.

That is, if the drying program is performed for a set period of time on the drying object, moisture or the like remaining in the articles on the bed as the drying object is heated and dried by the hot air. Therefore, if the steam supply step (S140) is performed after the set time has elapsed, the steam supplied to the inside of the drum 130 is supplied to the inside of the drum 130 heated by the air, so that the steam can be uniformly diffused in the inside of the drum, and moisture and the like remaining in the articles to be dried on the bed are removed, so that the steam can deeply permeate through the dried portion of the articles to be dried.

Hereinafter, an operation process of the laundry treating apparatus 100 according to still another embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A further embodiment of the invention exemplifies the following situation: in the case where the laundry treating apparatus of the embodiment of the present invention can obtain sufficient power supply and can perform sufficient treatment, the steam supplying step (S140) and the air supplying step (S150) are simultaneously performed.

As shown in the drawing, in still another embodiment of the present invention, in performing the drum driving step (S130), the air supplying step (S150) is performed in the same manner as the drum driving step, and in the initial stages of performing the drum driving step (S130) and the air supplying step (S150), the steam supplying step (S140) is performed during a set time.

In this case, the steam supplied to the inside of the drum 130 may be supplied to the inside of the drum 130 together with the air, uniformly spread inside the drum 130, and deeply penetrate through the dried portion of the drying object due to the removal of the moisture or the like remaining in the bed articles as the drying object.

According to the control method of the laundry treating apparatus of the embodiment of the present invention as described above, steam is supplied at the time of drying the bedclothes such as bedclothes, whereby not only can the bedclothes be dried by the supplied steam, but also wrinkles removal, odor removal, static electricity removal, dust removal and sterilization can be effectively performed.

In addition, according to the control method of the laundry treatment apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention as described above, when drying a bedding such as bedding, the internal temperature of the bedding can be maintained at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time by supplying steam, so that the sterilizing effect on the bedding can be improved.

The above control method has been described with reference to a laundry treatment apparatus having a circulation type drying system as shown in fig. 1, but the control method of the present invention may be applied to a laundry treatment apparatus having an exhaust type drying system.

That is, the laundry treating apparatus having the exhaust type drying system is constituted by the drum 130, the exhaust duct discharging the air inside the drum 130 to the outside of the cabinet 110, the supply duct supplying the outside air to the drum 130, the fan provided to the exhaust duct, and the heat exchanging part (heater) provided to the supply duct, and the control method of the present invention is also applicable to the laundry treating apparatus having the exhaust type drying system as described above.

While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and implementations of the invention as described herein can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. Accordingly, later modifications to the embodiments of the present invention may be made without departing from the technical scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A control method of a laundry treating apparatus, the laundry treating apparatus comprising:

a drum into which the drying object is put;

a drum motor driving the drum;

an air flow path for guiding air to the drum;

a heat pump provided in the air flow path for dehumidifying and heating the air;

a blower fan for moving air in the air flow path; and

an air supply motor for driving the air supply fan,

the control method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

a process selection step of selecting a drying process;

a drum driving step of repeatedly driving the drum by accelerating and decelerating the drum;

an air supply step of circulating air in the drum while the drum driving step is performed; and

a steam supply step of stopping the drum driving step after supplying steam for a set period of time when the bedding drying process is selected in the process selection step;

before the steam supply step is performed, the air supply step is performed,

in performing the steam supply step, circulation of air in the drum is stopped.

2. The method for controlling a laundry treating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

the air supply step is performed after the set time has elapsed.

3. The method for controlling a laundry treating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

in the steam supply step, the operation of the heat pump and the blower motor is suspended during the set time.

4. The method for controlling a laundry treating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

the heat pump is stopped before the steam supply step, and the blower motor is stopped after the steam supply step is started.

5. The method for controlling a laundry treating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

in the steam supply step, the operation of the heat pump and the blower motor is stopped, and is operated after the steam supply step is completed.

6. The method for controlling a laundry treating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

in the steam supply step, the blower motor is stopped after being temporarily operated, and is operated after the steam supply step is completed.

7. The method for controlling a laundry treating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

the blower motor is restarted after the steam supply step is completed, and the heat pump is operated after the blower motor is operated.

8. The method for controlling a laundry treating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

the drum driving step includes:

a first mode of rotating the drum at a rotation speed at which the drying object flows at a lower portion of a horizontal line passing through a rotation center of the drum;

a third mode in which the drum is rotated at a rotation speed at which the drying object is kept in close contact with the circumferential surface of the drum; and

a second mode in which the drum is rotated at a rotational speed greater than the rotational speed set in the first mode and less than the rotational speed set in the third mode.

9. The method for controlling a laundry treating apparatus according to claim 8, wherein,

the drum driving step sequentially performs the first mode, the second mode, the third mode, the second mode, and the first mode.

10. The method for controlling a laundry treating apparatus according to claim 8, wherein,

in the second mode, the drum is rotated at a rotation speed at which the drying object located at a lower region of a horizontal line passing through a rotation center of the drum falls from an upper region of the horizontal line to the lower region.